Planning Ahead · Trusts

Family Member or Trust Company? Choosing a Trustee in Washington

Written from the Washington statutes it cites, checked October 12, 2026. Its primary sources are listed at the end of the page.

What any trustee must do

The trust's terms generally control over the default rules, but no trust can excuse a trustee from acting in good faith (RCW 11.97.010). Every trustee owes these duties:

• Loyalty. A trustee "must administer the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries" (RCW 11.98.078).
• Impartiality. With two or more beneficiaries, the trustee must act impartially, "giving due regard to the beneficiaries' respective interests" (RCW 11.98.078).
• Prudent investing. The trustee must invest "as a prudent investor would" and diversify unless special circumstances make that unwise or the trust says otherwise. A trustee with special skills, or named because they claimed them, must use them (RCW 11.100.020, 11.100.047).
• Information. The trustee must keep qualified beneficiaries "reasonably informed." For a trust that became irrevocable after December 31, 2011, the trustee must also notify them within 60 days of accepting the role, unless the trustor waived or changed that requirement. A narrow exception applies when the trustor's spouse or domestic partner has capacity, is the only current beneficiary, and everyone else is a descendant of the couple (RCW 11.98.072).
• Yearly statements. At least once a year, the trustee must send each beneficiary currently eligible for distributions an itemized statement of receipts and disbursements. An adult beneficiary can waive it in writing (RCW 11.106.020, 11.106.100).

While you are alive and the trust is revocable, only you are entitled to that information (RCW 11.98.072). See For Trustees for the trustee's side.

Who can serve

Individuals. Chapter 11.98 RCW has no section setting qualifications for an individual trustee. The disqualification list in RCW 11.36.010 (minors, people of unsound mind, felons) covers probate personal representatives, not trustees. Individuals do not need a state certificate to act (RCW 30B.04.040).

Banks and trust companies. A company doing trust business here generally must be authorized, such as a state trust company certified by the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), a state bank with trust powers, a national bank authorized by the Comptroller of the Currency, or an out-of-state trust institution approved by DFI (RCW 30B.04.030, 30B.04.050). DFI publishes a list of the trust companies it regulates.

Out of state. An out-of-state trust institution that meets Washington's requirements need not keep a Washington office (RCW 30B.38.005). Naming an out-of-state trustee "does not change the situs of the trust" (RCW 11.98.039).

What a trustee can be paid

A trustee may receive "reasonable compensation," based on "the time, effort, skill, and responsibility involved" (RCW 11.98.070(26)). The statute sets no percentage. The trust document can set, limit or waive pay (RCW 11.97.010). Institutions set their own fees.

Successors: taking over, stepping down, being replaced

• Taking over. A willing named successor "is entitled to act as trustee except for good cause or disqualification" and holds all the original trustee's powers and duties (RCW 11.98.039, 11.98.060).
• Declining. A named person who has not accepted can decline in writing, delivered to the trustor or, after death or incapacity, to a successor trustee or qualified beneficiary (RCW 11.98.017).
• Resigning. A trustee may resign "without judicial proceedings" by a signed writing filed with the trust records (RCW 11.98.029). The trustee is discharged when everyone entitled to notice agrees or 30 days after notice, whichever comes first, unless someone files a court petition before then (RCW 11.98.041).
• No successor named. Everyone with an interest can agree in writing on a new trustee, or to add co-trustees (RCW 11.98.039; 11.96A.220).
• Court. A beneficiary, the trustor if living, or the trustee can ask the superior court to appoint or change a trustee "for any other reasonable cause" (RCW 11.98.039).
• Bank mergers. A named bank's successor in interest is presumed authorized (RCW 11.98.065).

Co-trustees and directed trusts

You can pair an adult child with a trust company. By default, three or more trustees act by majority, a rule that does not help two who disagree. A co-trustee who gets written notice of a proposed action and does not object in writing within 15 days is treated as approving, unless that co-trustee earlier filed a notice opting out of this rule (RCW 11.98.016).

Washington's Uniform Directed Trust Act (chapter 11.98B RCW, which replaced the repealed chapter 11.98A) lets a trust give a "trust director" power over certain decisions, such as investments. The "directed trustee" must then "take reasonable action to comply," but must not comply if doing so would be willful misconduct. A trust can also relieve one co-trustee of liability for another's decisions (RCW 11.98B.050, .080, .110). See /trustees on co-trustee disagreements about a house.

Questions to weigh

• Continuity: Can this person or institution serve in 10 or 20 years? Who is the backup?
• Family dynamics: Can one child stay impartial toward siblings, as RCW 11.98.078 requires?
• Investing: Can they meet the prudent investor standard? A trustee may hire advisors but must select and monitor them with reasonable care (RCW 11.98.070(27), 11.98.071).
• Records: Who will send the notices and yearly statements?

When the trust holds a house

Family and professional trustees face the same rules. Either may sell (RCW 11.98.070), but loyally and prudently. If the house is 25 percent or more of the net fair market value of trust principal, the sale is a "significant nonroutine transaction." Unless a compelling circumstance requires faster action, the trustee must give written notice at least 20 days before signing a binding agreement. Notice goes to the trustor if living and to each adult beneficiary currently receiving income (or having income accumulated) whose address is known. The trustee must also get an independent appraisal or sell on the open market. The trustor or the people entitled to notice can waive these requirements in writing (RCW 11.100.140).

For inherited property, the IRS says basis is generally "the FMV of the property at the date of the individual's death" (Publication 551). Federal law treats property in a trust the decedent could revoke until death, with income payable to the decedent, as acquired from the decedent for this rule (26 U.S.C. § 1014(b)(2)). A date-of-death value therefore matters. See The House Is in a Living Trust and Probate vs Trust Sale.

What to do next

• Check your trust for the named successor, a backup, how co-trustees decide, and compensation.
• Ask the person you plan to name whether they are willing, and share the For Trustees page.
• For a bank or trust company, check DFI's list and ask for the fee schedule in writing.
• See The Legal Documents That Matter Most and the glossary.

Related: What Does Probate Cost in Washington? · Who Pays a Parent's Debts After They Die in Washington? · Can a Will Be Challenged in Washington?